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The time is
now thirty years later and Senora Incita has passed away. Today
is the day of the funeral. Prior to Senora Incita’s death, as
she had declined Floriella had been planning to relieve herself of
the harsh fashion regime that had been inflicted on her since
she had arrived in Brazil. To that end she had ordered lower
heels and dresses with lower and looser collars, she had also
tried to relax the lacing on her corset, but had found that
while standing, her body was so reliant on the tightness, that
any relaxation felt as if her backbone was collapsing and caused
her severe pain, although she found that that the stem could
easily be reduced by two inches to relieve the continuous
pressure on her ribs and hipbones.
Today though
she
would honour her mother in law and appear in full regalia one
last time. Floriella walked over to the lacing bar where her two
maids were waiting and stood below it. Quickly the maids unlaced
the light 4” stemmed 18” waist sleeping corset and stripped
off her under linen, she was then dressed in silk, heavily laced
combinations. Suffering without the support of any corset the
maids quickly strapped her wrists to the bar and raised her up
until her feet were off the floor. |
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The
next stage was the dress corset; this was Floriella's longest
corset, both for the length of the stem at 7” and in the
length of the corset itself which stretched from just under her
now copious bosom to halfway down her fleshy thighs. Floriella only wore
this corset for important parties and balls; dinners were out
the question as sitting in this corset was a complete
impossibility. The corset itself was beautiful to look at with
black and silver panels and dripping with black lace at top and
bottom, it’s construction was belied by it’s beauty, as the
corset, when the busk was hooked would stand on it own, with
the metal boning at the stem waist being solid and that of the
top and the apron being close packed. The weight was significant
and both maids struggled to lift it and fit it to Floriella’s
now permanently deformed torso, while Floriella fed her arms
through the shoulder straps, they then grappled with each hook
on busk which had 20 hooks with one every inch at the stem. |
Once
the busk was closed a maid reached down inserted the two large
pessaries
that were necessary with her strictest
corset. The lacing then began, first the back lace was tightened
from top & bottom towards the middle until the corset was
rigid from hip to breast.
The corset was then allowed to settle while the maids attended to
the black silk stockings. Each stocking was held tight by eight
garters. Then the high heeled boots. The boots had heels of 7”
and were so high and steep that the sole actually bent backwards
towards the heel, Florella could never have managed the heels with
her small feet without the 2” of padding in the toes. The boots
were double laced and came up to just below her knee with boning
on either side of her ankle and calves, to give her support and
stop her turning over on her ankles. |
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Once
the boots were laced the maids returned to the corset,
concentrating on the stem, Floriella braced herself as they
started on the side laces, the side laces only ran from 1”
above to 1” below the stem. They were 1” open at the widest
point, The maids pulled steadily until the gap was down to
˝” while Floriella tried to stretch away from the crushing
tightness. The maids halted while Floriella adjusted to the
pressure, her breathing fast and her neck arched as she panted
for air into her compressed lungs, Her generous breasts rising up
to nearly neck level with every stifled breath.
When Floriella’s breathing had settled, the maids slowly
continued, alternating between the back and side laces,
compressing the stem smaller into a stiff column and forcing
the ribs
and hips apart.
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When the side and the back laces were closed at
the waist, the maids quickly re-tightened the laces at the hips
and the waist to ensure a smooth line.
The shoulder straps were then tightened back, lifting her
now extremely prominent, heaving breasts even higher.
Next came several black petticoats, Floriella wobbling rapidly
on each ankle, as she lifted each in turn to allow the fitting of
the petticoats. The first one was thick rustling taffeta, which
swirled easily with any movement. The maids then tied on the
2” inch thick pads over her already ample hips, which fitted
smoothly over boned hips of her corset considerably increasing
the visible hip spring with respect to the tiny stem. Similar
pads were fitted under Floriella’s armpits. Long gloves were
smoothed onto her arms. |
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Next came
the elaborate mourning dress which was fitted from breast to
knee, with a hundred tiny buttons closing it at the back, at the
neck it was stiffened with spring steel into a 6” tall perfect
tube. The collar rose above the tube out to the tip of
Floriella’s chin and up to just under her ears. When all the
buttons were closed Floriella’s neck was only 4˝” across
and her chin was held high as she struggled to get air to her
corset constricted lungs through her restricted neck. One maid
then stood on a stool and touched the heavy powder and rouge on
Floriella’s face, tidied up any stray tendrils from her her high piled hair and
then fitted the high brimmed that was as wide as Floriella’s
shoulders. From the top of her hat to the tip of her high-heeled
boots she was now 7ft tall. The last act was to fit the famous
7” deep silver belt over the corset stem, the two maids using
a lot of effort to close it.
With
some final fussing from the maids, Floriella tottered towards
the door, using one of the maids arm as support. In the hall was
waiting her daughter Catalina. Catalina was dressed in an
identical outfit to her mother. Both the stems were 7” but
while Floriella’s was just under 5” across and 15” round.
Catalina’s was under 13” only 4” across.
Catalina was the toast of the
town and with her radical figure, she was in great demand with
the scions of Brazil’s finest families. While Floriella had
never been happy with the extreme figure modifications, Catalina
was entirely happy, with her striking figure and the attention
it commanded and was still at the age of 22 always trying to
improve it. |
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Floriella dearly hoped that
Catalina’s figure would always be appreciated, but she worried
that such extreme waist modification would fall out of fashion
in Brazil and she was not sure how the rest of the world would
react when Catalina went on her travels to Europe. Last week
when she and Catalina were returning from the dressmakers after
a fitting for the mourning outfits and they had stopped at the
Hotel de Porto for coffee. Floriella had been extremely
heartened for Catalina in the praise, and
obvious appreciation that they had received from a
Frenchman who could not stop complimenting on their figures. He
had mentioned that while some stem waist could be found in
Europe mainly in Paris and Vienna, none that he had seen could
compare to her and Catalina’s.
Floriella
and Catalina linked arms and teetered and tottered down the hall
steadied by a maid on either side, their steel tipped toes and
heels tip-tapping on the tiled floor. They made an astonishing
site, both 7ft tall, with wide hips and shoulders,
hip to hip the gap between the two stem waists was nearly 2ft. |
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Floriella smiled as she thought
"This is the last
time !"
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I have
enjoyed writing this story, it was inspired by this letter from
London Life :-
Truth Stranger Than Fiction
I
travelled pretty extensively prior to the war and in South
America came across a club in Rio. My hostess at the time was a
member as was her daughter, their particular “fetish” being
the collection of really extraordinary waists and the wearing of
extreme heels. Mother and daughter were remarkably alike, the
former being 33 and the latter 17 years old. They were
frequently taken for sisters and being practically the same
height, encouraged this belief by always dressing exactly alike;
and a brilliant make-up on the elder lady’s part added to the
deception.
The waist
measurement of 10 or twelve inches you gave to one your
characters in your story was not an exaggeration, as on several
occasions I danced with the two ladies I am speaking of when
their waist were exactly ten inches round and they stood on the
tips of their toes mounted on seven inch heels.
And several
stories about Austrian Belts and stem waists in London Life
If you think
any of this far fetched, here are some modern day examples of
extreme high heels, posture collars & waist compressors.
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